Ontario municipal election brings new blood to several communities

CP

Toronto voters elected a new mayor Monday to replace the scandal-plagued Rob Ford. Several other municipalities in the province — some of them with high-profile incumbents — also elected new leaders. One noteworthy exception was Ottawa, where voters chose to stand by their current mayor.

MISSISSAUGA

Mississauga has a new mayor for the first time in nearly four decades, with Bonnie Crombie taking over from the city's beloved matriarch, Hazel McCallion.

Crombie, a city councillor and former Liberal MP, defeated Steve Mahoney after she was endorsed by McCallion herself.

Mahoney was also a former Liberal MP and before that a Liberal MPP.

McCallion — affectionately known as Hurricane Hazel — had won the last 12 municipal elections, but decided not to run this year.

A conflict of interest case involving a development company owned by her son could have seen her ousted from office, but a judge found last year that the conflict was minor and did not warrant such a drastic step.

BRAMPTON

Mayor Susan Fennell lost her bid for re-election amid a spending scandal that rocked the city northwest of Toronto.

Linda Jeffrey, a former provincial Liberal cabinet minister, defeated the incumbent and city councillor John Sanderson.

The expenses added up to more than $172,000, although roughly $41,000 was repaid and an arbitrator found Fennell must only pay back $3,523.

ELLIOT LAKE

The northern Ontario community has turfed its mayor less than two weeks after a report found municipal officials were partly to blame for a deadly mall collapse two years ago.

Dan Marchisella, an army veteran who served in Afghanistan, defeated Mayor Rick Hamilton as well as two city councillors — Al Collett and Tom Farquhar — who were vying for the city's top job.

The cave-in of the Algo Centre Mall, which claimed the lives of two women, loomed heavily over the election and Hamilton's bid for a third term in office.

Residents have expressed outrage and frustration over officials' roles in the crisis, and a judicial inquiry found this month that municipal officials turned a blind eye to worsening conditions at the shopping centre.

Marchisella told a local newspaper he decided to run because he had "lost all faith" in city officials.

WINDSOR

A city councillor who campaigned on promises of stability and job creation has been promoted to the mayor's seat.

Drew Dilkens replaces Eddie Francis, who served as mayor for more than a decade but chose not to seek a fourth term.

The outgoing mayor openly backed Dilkens during the campaign.

Voters gave Dilkens a considerable lead over his closest rivals, John Millson, a former Windsor mayor and councillor, and Larry Horwitz, a businessman.

LONDON

Voters have chosen Matt Brown to replace the city's disgraced former mayor, Joe Fontana, after he resigned this summer following a fraud conviction.

Brown, a teacher, beat out more than a dozen candidates, including frontrunners Paul Cheng, a businessman, and Joe Swan, a city councillor.

Fontana vowed this summer never to seek public office again, effectively ending his three-decade federal and municipal political career.

He was found guilty of defrauding the government for forging a contract from his son's wedding to make it look as though it was for a political event at the same venue while he was a Liberal MP.

He's been sentenced to four months of house arrest.

OTTAWA

Jim Watson is staying on as mayor in the nation's capital.

Voters chose Watson by a wide margin over his top competitor for the job, Mike Maguire.

The mayor's re-election platform focused largely on building the second phase of a light rail project.

Watson, a former Liberal MPP, also served as the city's mayor in the late 1990s.